Dear Friends and Family,
My day didn’t start well. I went to breakfast feeling fine, ate come cereal, was served an omelet, but started feeling something was wrong. “OH NO… I have a full day of speaking ahead of me.” I went back to my room and my stomach emptied itself, if you know what I mean, and by the time my ride came to pick me up I was feeling better. We stopped on the way to the meeting place and I picked up a coke to try to settle my stomach and by the time we were ready to start about 30 mins later, I was doing well. Interesting morning. In all of my years of traveling throughout Africa, I have had only three episodes that put me in bed for a day…. All three were due to food poisoning. I thank the Lord for that.
Now to the good stuff.
This is an apologetics seminar. To say it another way, this is a seminar to equip believers to defend the truth-claims of Christianity and answer the questions posed by skeptics, agnostics, unbelievers and cult members.
My goal, and the goal of the ITEM Next Gene Ministry, is to do by best to bring a sometimes highly academic process down to where the common church member, parent, grandparent, pastor, youth pastor can grab hold of it and use it to share their faith.
My ultimate target audience is the Gen Z crowd, their parents (and some grandparents), and their pastors. There were slightly more than 50 in attendance today and one familiar comment that I heard was “this is timely!”
Three of my four presentations today were foundational. Intro to Apologetics, including why we need to be involved. Second was the Bible’s Authority in Apologetics. Third, Worldview Matters. Then the fourth started considering some common topics. Today was the problem of evil, i.e. if God is all powerful and all loving, then why so much evil and suffering in the world, why do bad things happen to good people, etc.
The emphasis all day was that when we are discussing these issues with skeptics, unbelievers, or doubters we need to be kind, gentle, humble, and respectful. On the way back to the place where I’m staying, on of the
passengers asked me about this approach and said many who try to do apologetics on social media seem more intent on winning an argument more than anything else. I told him that is NOT what the Bible suggests. I will have more to day about that tomorrow in one of the lectures. Doing apologetics well, requires as much if not more listening than talking.
Zimbabwe borders South Africa, a very progressive, liberal country. And their progressive ideologies are making their way across the border into Zimbabwe. One young pastor, during a break, noted that being a part of the LGBTQ community was against the law here but that there are some activists pushing for a lessening of the restrictions. I warned him that this is only the beginning. The problem of evil came up in a discussion even before I spoke on the topic. The pastor who was emceeing, while speaking to the group warned the group about false religions and admonished them to get to know their Bibles because these false teachers take verses out of context. He also recognized the significant resurgence of African Traditional Religions (ATR). Some are saying that Christianity is a white-man’s religion and that Africans need to return to their religious roots…. ATR, which includes witchcraft and ancestor worship, among other false teachings.
A final conversation I had before leaving was with a middle aged man who is a chaplain at a university about 550 miles away. He talked about the students at the university who are vulnerable to the unbiblical the culture is feeding them and need this teaching. He was thankful that he was here and was learning a lot that he can take back to the university and use.
The seminar coordinator and want to set up an Apologetics Group on the international popular social media platform, WhatsApp. It is my intent to continue discussions and training with this group. My contacts in Rwanda have already set on up for that country: Apologetics Rwanda.
This all is so timely. When I started the ITEM Next Gen Ministry, this is what I expected. Now it has gone from being an expectation to a reality. This ministry field, apologetics, is fairly new in Africa and the need is great. The next generation of leaders is at stake.
Thank you for praying. My prayer is that be the end of Tuesday’s session, the participants will take away a few basic principles that they can begin to use immediately. Please pray with me about this.
CLICK HERE. to see some pictures of today’s meeting.
Click REPLY HERE to send a question or reply to me.
By His grace,
Steve
ITEM Next Gen Ministry Speaker/Apologist